God offers to forgive and to wash clean. Spotless. No stains to remind us of our sins.

Many times in the Old Testament God pleaded with His wayward people to return to Him as in Jeremiah 3:22,  “Return you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.”

“Come now…though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

He wants to forgive you and wash away your sin stains. God wants us to come to Him, broken, and dirty – just as we are. We cannot fix ourselves or clean ourselves up.

Only he can wash us, cleanse us and remove the stains of sin. Even if we don’t realize it, we are sinful and dirty and separated from God. (I think we all know our sinful state.)

His call goes out to everyone, “Come to me.” I think of the song “Softly and Tenderly”¹.

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling

Calling for you and for me

See on the portal he is waiting and watching

Watching for you and for me.

O for the wonderful love he has promised

Promised for you and for me

Though we have sinned he as mercy and pardon

Pardon for you and for me.

Come to the throne of grace and let God wash you and make you clean. Stay in His presence feeling the forgiving water washing every part, visible and hidden.

Words to light your path –

King David said in Psalms 51:2,3,4,7, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only have I sinned. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

1 Cor. 6:11 “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Rev. 1:5 “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”

 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So, are you convinced God wants to cleanse you? Is it clear?

Allow His searchlight access to every hidden and even forgotten sin that He might wash it away. See what Oswald Chambers says about God’s cleansing here. 

Take all the time you need. Stay in His presence allowing His cleansing blood to flow over and through you washing you completely. Hide nothing from Him. He only wants to wash it away.

After washing us with the blood of hHs son, He will clothe you with the robes of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. New clothes. Clean clothes. The pure righteousness of His son. 

In Philippians 3:9 Paul says, “and be found in Him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

I think many believers have confessed their sins, accepted Jesus as their Savior, but fail to take in the importance of being washed. They believe they are forgiven, but I think they carry around the stain of past sins. They haven’t taken into their spirit that they have been washed. Washed clean. All evidence of sins in their past is removed. They are now clean.

Why do you wait? The Father offers forgiveness and reconciliation.

All he requires is for each of us to accept his gift. Allow Him to plant his life in our hearts. He does not ask you to pledge your life to him nor promise to be a good Christian.

Are you afraid of yourself? Your inability to be a good Christian? We can never be a good Christian. He only wants to live in you, to give you a new life.

Sing the song – “Just as I Am”² as you go before the throne of grace.

Just as I am without one plea

But that thy blood was shed for me

And that thou bidst me come to thee

O Lamb of God, I come.

Listen to your heart. Listen to the Holy Spirit calling you. You know you want to do this.

Don’t stop to think about it. Don’t listen to your mind. Don’t listen to the deceiver – he wants to keep you from taking this step. Don’t listen to him.

Today, find time alone to go before the throne for your washing. Again, stay in his presence allowing time for this to become a reality to you.

Heavenly Father, you offer to cleanse to all who come to you. Not just to forgive, but to cleanse. Thorough cleaning. Deep cleaning. With your mercy, you search out all our hidden sins to wash them and their stain away. We don’t deserve it, but you provide it anyway. Cleanse us, O Lord, leave not one small stain behind. And if we sin again, help us to come quickly to be cleansed.

1. Softly and Tenderly by Will Lamartine Thompson, 1880
2. Just As I Am by Charlotte Elliot, 1834